The
Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)
is a nascent regional judicial body. After the Agreement Establishing
the Caribbean Court of Justice of February 14, 2001, it entered into force
on July 23, 2002 (when Guyana joined Saint Lucia and Barbados in depositing
its instrument of ratification).

The CCJ has a hybrid nature that sets it apart from all other courts.
Indeed, like the ECJ, COMESA Court, TJAC, and even the ICJ, the CCJ is
an international tribunal applying rules of international law in respect
of the interpretation and application of the applicable treaties. Like
judicial bodies of regional organizations, its role is to preserve the
community (i.e., the Caricom) legal order (i.e., the Treaty of Chaguaramas
and its protocols). However, at the same time, and the CCJ will hear appeals
in both civil and criminal matters from common law courts within the jurisdictions
of member States of the Caricom and which are parties to the Agreement
establishing the CCJ. For those Commonwealth States that ratify the Agreement
Establishing the CCJ, the CCJ will replace the Judicial Committee of the
Privy Council.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is one of the highest courts
in the UK (together with the House of Lords). It is also the highest court
of appeal for several independent countries that were formerly part of
the British Empire, the UK overseas territories, and the British crown
dependencies. The move away from the Privy Council was a long brewed one.
It started in 1970 when the Jamaican delegation at the Sixth Heads of
Government Conference, which convened in Jamaica, proposed the establishment
of a Caribbean Court of Appeal in substitution for the Judicial Committee
of the Privy Council. The process, however, accelerated towards the beginning
of the 1990s when regional governments and courts and the Privy Council
came at loggerheads over the issue of death penalty (with the former strongly
in favor, and the latter trying to curb its resort). In other words, the
CCJ is both a municipal court of last resort and an international court
with compulsory and exclusive jurisdiction in respect of the regional
organization's laws. This sets it apart from all other judicial bodies.